Evaluate the View That the Provision and Maintenance of Flood Defences Should Be Paid for Solely by the Government Essay

Below is an essay on "Evaluate the View That the Provision and Maintenance of Flood Defences Should Be Paid for Solely by the Government" from Anti Essays, your source for research papers, essays, and term paper examples.

The argument surrounding whether public goods, such as flood defences should be paid for is a controversial one. Some would say that they should be paid for by the people in the surrounding area as they are the ones that will be using them most. However others may argue that the people who cause the added risk of flooding should pay for them. Public goods are goods that are provided without profit to all members of a society and are non-excludable.
Making only the people in the immediate vicinity who are affected by the floods, as shown in Figure F, "should the households who suffer from flooding pay?" This could be a fair way of making the costs smaller but it would be almost impossible to determine the area that would be effected until after the flooding has taken place. Some people could fall into many paying categories and end up paying a higher percentage of their income for services that they may not have the need for. For example, the problem of sea defences. If someone lived on the outskirts of two cities, they may be forced to pay for both ‘maintenance fees’. People may also end up paying even if the aren't affected by flooding. I deem this as unfair as they are paying for something that does not affect them. Flood defences, however, are non-excludable meaning if one person uses it, it does not stop a different person using it. So, if a flood occurs, everyone in the immediate area would be safe and not just one house.
Another view is that it should be the farmers and forestry companies that should pay for the sea defences in this case. This may not be the strongest case as they aren’t solely to blame for causing floods. However, they do assist it a great deal in that they cut down trees which contributes to the risk of flooding and produce negative externalities. In my opinion, they could make a contribution to offset the price of the sea defences for the local council. We all know that without the cutting down of the trees, there is still a risk of...

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Evaluate the View That the Provision and Maintenance of Flood Defences Should Be Paid for Solely by the Government. Anti Essays. Retrieved February 21, 2018, from the World Wide Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/Evaluate-The-View-That-The-Provision-602962.html